Mr Monk and the Story with a Hole
by Random Guise
Summary: From the series Monk, Adrian gets his shot at a story with a hole mystery. Set towards the later part of the series. I don't own these characters, but through random chance I did solve a game of Clue on the first turn once.


Mr. Monk and the Story with a Hole

"Come in, come in" Palo Alto's Chief of Police Fred "Rainmaker" Grimes called out, hearing the knock on the door. The door opened, allowing three people to enter the room. The first was Captain Leeland Stottlemeyer from SFPD, a man that the chief had met before on a few occasions. It was the man behind him though that was the reason for the visit. He rose and walked over to shake hands with his visitors.

"Leeland, good to see you again, thanks for coming by."

"Sure thing Chief, always willing to help if we can. May I introduce Adrian Monk, the man I told you about. Monk, this is Chief Fred Grimes, Palo Alto PD." At Stottlemeyer's introduction Grimes held out his hand. Adrian looked at it and then shook it with an attitude of near trepidation. The woman behind him immediately handed him a cloth with which he wiped. The smell of sanitizer wafted through the room.

"And Ms. Natalie Teegar, his assistant" Leeland continued, as she quickly put away the wipe and shook hands.

Grimes sniffed the air. "Much of your reputation precedes you Mr. Monk. I think our department could use a little of your expertise in our cold case files."

Monk stood and shifted his shoulders slightly. Even when he wasn't at attention it looked like he was, except for his eyes. They kept stealing side glances around the room. "Captain Stottlemeyer seems to think the same way; I think he's trying to get you to owe him a favor later."

Leeland forced a laugh. "Now Monk, you know the police all work together for the good of everyone. I'll just leave you two here and I'll be on my way back. Call me if you need to be picked up before 5."

"One moment Leeland" Grimes said. "I know Mr. Monk here has a great reputation, but I want to see the man at work myself before I turn him loose on the files. I've got a little test."

"A test?" Monk asked. "Captain..."

"No Leeland, it's okay. Mr. Monk, it's not a test on police procedure or anything like that. It's a little mystery I want you to solve. All you have to do is ask me questions that I can answer yes or no until you get the answer. I want to see how the Great Mr. Monk works."

"I wasn't ready to be quizzed..."

"Monk, don't worry about it. Think of it like another case, except this one has already been solved in the first place" Leeland assured him.

"I don't see the point then."

"The point is rent money" Natalie chimed in. "And I want to be paid for this month if that's okay."

Monk sighed. "Okay, go ahead. Are you leaving Captain?"

"No Monk, I think I want to stay for this part. But I'll just sit down over there in that chair; just pretend I'm not here." The captain sat and made himself comfortable and Natalie sent to stand beside him.

"This is the setup" started Grimes. "There was a dead body in a scuba suit found in a charred tree in a forest. What happened?" he asked with a grin.

Monk said "Let me think..." and started wandering around the room looking at the contents. He stopped and looked at a wall that had several pictures of airplanes, including one that was dropping fire retardant over some trees. On it was written "Hey Rainmaker, hope you put out crime like you put out fires!" and below it was signed with about a dozen names.

"I'm a licensed pilot, and spent a little time putting out fires in the Sierra Nevada Mountains out of Lake Tahoe until a doctor said I had to stop because of smoke allergies. A great bunch of people to work with though."

"Do you still fly?" Monk asked.

"Yes, occasionally. But I don't get a lot of time. I have my own private plane at the airport for when I do get a chance to get away."

Monk sniffed the picture and moved on. The chief's desk was very organized and much to Monk's liking. There was a partially consumed glass of milk sitting off-center on a coaster. Using a pair of pencils, Monk positioned the glass back carefully into the center of the coaster. He crouched down and looked at the milk. "Skim?"

"Uh, yeah" Grimes answered. "Doctor's orders again; I have to watch my weight. Would you like a glass?"

"No, can't drink the stuff."

"Dr. Kroger is working on it Mr. Monk. Maybe one day you will" Natalie interjected.

Monk moved on. "Is it hot in here, or just me?" he asked.

"It's normally about where I keep it. I think it's permanently set at 76."

"It seems hotter, more like 77" Monk said as he wiped his brow. "Can you set it to 75?"

"No, the thermostat is in a locked box I can't get into" the chief explained.

There was a glass cabinet on one wall with shelves that held various things. Shells, an old watch and a rusty camera were some of the items. There was a red float with a matching red flag with a white stripe.

"SMB, or Surface Marker Buoy" Grimes explained. "I also dive. Sometimes I fly down the coast and dive near Morro Bay for things people have dropped overboard. That buoy helps mark my position for people above the water."

Monk was looking at a starfish. "Would you like to hold it?" Grimes asked.

"Has it been in the ocean?"

"Yes, of course it has."

"No thanks. That's where fish...do their business. I can't imagine a situation where I'd ever go in the ocean." Monk paused. "Oh, are you the same Grimes that worked on the Ybarra case back in 1995?"

"I am. We almost didn't solve that one. Got lucky."

"Did you know that Ybarra faked the missing arm?" Monk asked.

"No, not at first. But we heard a rumor and tracked down some medical records."

"I see. If you suddenly didn't have a smoke allergy, would you go back to firefighting?"

"No, but I'd probably wish I could. I'm a bit old now to go flying around over hotspots."

Monk walked back to the chief's desk and stood in front of it, looking at a picture on his desk of a woman. "If you don't mind me asking, is that your wife?"

"It sure is. Been married for 15 years. Trudy is her name. Are you married Mr. Monk?" the chief said as he saw the ring on Monk's finger.

"Yes. Her name is Trudy also." Behind Monk Leeland was shaking his head and moving his hands to catch the chief's attention. It was best not to stay on that topic.

"So Mr. Monk, have a seat and we'll do the test" Grimes said, settling into his chair behind the desk.

"No thanks, I'd prefer to stand. I've already solved it anyway."

"You have?! You haven't even asked a question yet!" the chief said, astounded.

"I do have to ask one last question. Was the man dead from falling a great distance with a load of water scooped up from a lake he had been diving in by an airplane that used the water to help put out a forest fire?"

Grimes sat with his mouth open. "That's…uh…the answer. How did you get it without asking any other questions?"

"I solved it right away when I saw that you were a firefighting pilot and a diver. But I didn't want to solve it with just asking one question; one isn't a very good number for me. So I asked enough questions so that there were ten total. Here's the thing; you didn't say the questions had to be about the case."

"No, I don't think I did say that either. Huh."

"And it's not a real case anyway. It's what they call an 'urban legend'. Julie told me some of them that she found on the internet."

"Julie?"

"That's my daughter, Chief Grimes" Natalie said as she stood by Leeland.

"Well, that's true that it's an urban legend but it was used to see how you work; I guess I may never understand how you do that. Well Mr. Monk, I think you passed the test with no problem. Still want to work with us?"

"Yes. I need the money and that's no urban legend."

The End

* * *

 **A/N: Monk was one of the first series I ever watched entirely on DVD. I don't know if you can call it binge watching when it took me a little over a year to do it, but I did manage to time the last season just when the final disk set came out. Of course his character was made up, but it was fun to see how he related (or didn't) with the outside world. And it was touching that at his core he still loved his late wife even as the show ended after eight seasons.**


End file.
